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Also this issue: Get Up and Get Down The Night Shift Triplet Threat Home Records House of Paine |
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![](\"../images/teal.gif\") |
April 18-24, 2002
cover story
![\"Blak](\"cover7-1.jpg\") Blak Thought: Baby Blak takes his shots at hip-hopÍs bling-bling culture. |
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Equipped with extensive vocabularies, a humble arrogance and Wharton-esque business savvy MCs Kenneth Masters and Baby Blak have crisscrossed the world, from Miami to Paris to Cali and Copenhagen. Google them on the web and you’ll come up with articles in Italian, Japanese and French. While Roc-A-Fella’s Freeway and Missy Elliot protégé Miss Jade permeate the airwaves in the name of Philly, Blak and Masters are the real deal. Not products of money-hungry A&Rs that churn out plastic-mold-fitted MCs at lightning speed, they maintain a rare balance and authenticity.
Either by default or choice, both are on a voyage to make their own fortunes without the power and peril of major label backing. So if that means you\'re likely to only hear about these artists by word of mouth, or catch a track on college radio, so be it. Kids in Japan who don\'t speak a lick of English can recite their lyrics to a T -- the hometown should be equally knowledgeable.
![\"ÍMass](\"cover7-2.jpg\") ÍMass Destruction: Kenneth Masters attacks the mic from the indie perspective. |
ARCHIVES .
April 18-24, 2002 cover story Self-Made
Equipped with extensive vocabularies, a humble arrogance and Wharton-esque business savvy MCs Kenneth Masters and Baby Blak have crisscrossed the world, from Miami to Paris to Cali and Copenhagen. Google them on the web and you’ll come up with articles in Italian, Japanese and French. While Roc-A-Fella’s Freeway and Missy Elliot protégé Miss Jade permeate the airwaves in the name of Philly, Blak and Masters are the real deal. Not products of money-hungry A&Rs that churn out plastic-mold-fitted MCs at lightning speed, they maintain a rare balance and authenticity. Either by default or choice, both are on a voyage to make their own fortunes without the power and peril of major label backing. So if that means you're likely to only hear about these artists by word of mouth, or catch a track on college radio, so be it. Kids in Japan who don't speak a lick of English can recite their lyrics to a T -- the hometown should be equally knowledgeable. Stalking the Underground with Kenneth Masters
“So I walk with a strut and hunger pains in my gut/And keep my middle fingers up/I’m independent as fuck.” --“Independent As Fuck” At the deserted Anti-Pop Consortium concert at the TLA, Kenneth Masters (a.k.a. K-Mass the a.n.o.n.y.m.o.u.s.) rocked the mic for die-hard fans like it was a packed stadium. "It could be five or five thousand -- a show is a show," he explains later backstage. After jumping ship from a New York label that wasn't handling business, K-Mass teamed with Philly's Arrakis Records to form a more perfect union. He went on to storm national college radio charts and mix tapes last year, and his single "Freddy vs. Jason" off the Will We Ever Be Famous? EP landed a spot on the prestigious ECKO compilation. Citing his early days of eating up the open-mic circuit and street-corner ciphers, Masters waxes on and on about the importance of being indie-minded. "I've always wanted to be independent. I'm a musician. I'm an artist." His latest single, "Independent As Fuck" sets the record straight about the pitfalls of his choice: "But you feeling salty cuz you got a 9 to 5 and with a car that's gonna break like every time you drive it/Just you and your roommates in a studio apartment but y'all can't afford the heat because the lights is more important." It lacks a radio-friendly R&B sing-song hook, but producer Happ G laced the track with a bare-bones beat designed for Masters to attack with his trademark rapid-fire delivery. "I definitely appreciate the struggle, that's where it [hip-hop} came from. It ain't come from a bunch of kids that had cars and shit like that and their parents were feeding them allowance and they said, Œwell we just want to create a new musical art form.'''''' It was like punk rock, it was kids that were fed up with shit , like Œyo this is our language that we speak.' There hasn't been a for-real movement like it to redefine a whole generation." Despite the desire to remain in control, Masters acknowledges his wish to make a living from his art. "That's a dream. Everybody wants to sign a check, have money in the bank, Swiss account -- yeah I want to do that but I think a day job is vital." For now. Log onto http://www.arrakisrecords.com for more information on K-Mass, Arrakis Records and upcoming shows. “Independent As Fuck” hits stores on May 7. Searching for the Middle Ground with Baby Blak“You wear the blood of your people on your neck and your wrist/I said the blood of your people/Ain’t no love for your people/South African government put slugs in my people so ya platinum chain can have a stud you can see through.” --“Die Man (Diamonds)” After releasing a flood of classic singles as one half of the group Ill Advised (with cohort Mr. Lish) during indie hip-hop's heyday in the mid-to-late '90s, Baby Blak is putting the finishing touches on his debut solo album, Once You Go Blak. He's also featured on several cuts from DJ Jazzy Jeff's funkier-than-thou BBE Beat Generation series album The Magnificent. Rep'n West Philly, Baby Blak treads in a gray area, speaking a hip-hop language that's almost extinct. "My music is based on humanity," he explains of his creative duality. "I'm middle ground. Middle ground is below jiggy, icy-crystal poppin', platinum chain-wearing, shiny suit-having, go-go girl ass-shaking and above the water-bottle granola kids, backpacks, incense-burning wannabe earthy type." With highly complex rhyme patterns, Blak doesn't hesitate to flip hip-hop haikus at random. Spittin' with overflowing confidence on the 20-plus-track album advance, Blak tackles everything from street sagas to poverty, fatherhood, women and betrayal with prime production, cuts and scratching by DJ Revolution, Evidence, Joey Chavez and a host of local beat-men. On "Die Man (Diamonds)," Baby Blak takes listeners on a trip to the violent diamond mines of South Africa and attacks the way ice is prized in the hip-hop world. "You killing your people, walking around in America like you're the shit," he says, addressing his materialist peers, "and people are losing legs and arms, and mothers and fathers -- over some diamonds." Possessing the vivid storytelling ability of Nas circa Illmatic with clever, witty wordplay and Jay-Z-like ability to flip his moniker 50 different ways with ease, Blak proves his worth as a soloist on Once You Go Blak. Already being hailed as an "indie classic" by hiphopsite.com, his debut waits anxiously in the wings by choice. "I love being categorized as independent: I control my creativity; I see more money; I don't have a 50-year-old dude from the suburbs in a suit telling me how to make street music." Instead he has an enviable mentor in Jazzy Jeff, lyrics that drop jaws worldwide, a decade-old career and a future that's his to make. Check for Baby Blak’s debut this summer, featured appearances on Prince Paul’s, DJ Sat-One’s and Pete Rock’s new LPs and The Jazzy Jeff World Tour coming to a hood near you. Cop the single “Blak Iz Back” in stores now. 
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